Evening Roundup: Déjà Vu Edition

You would think Republicans would avoid bringing our nation to the brink of default once again, but a year later Speaker Boehner is putting forward the same partisan strategy that resulted in our nation’s first credit downgrade:

“Boehnerissued a similar warning at this time last year. The end result wasa confidence-shaking showdown over the summer that resulted in the Budget Control Act, which calls for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts.”

“It also sparked the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's, which cited political brinksmanship as the chief cause.”

“Ready for another debt-ceiling standoff in Congress? House Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday he will insist on spending cuts in exchange for a vote in Congress to raise the nation’s debt limit, forewarning a year-end showdown that could resemble the standoff that resulted in a gridlocked Congress and the nation’s first ever credit rating downgrade.”

“In a speech Tuesday to a fiscal summit meeting in Washington sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Mr. Boehner planned to double down on what has become known as the Boehner Rule: Any increase in the statutory borrowing limit must be accompanied by spending cuts of equal value.”

“That position led to the country nearly defaulting on its debts last summer for the first time, as Republicans in the House dug in against raising the debt ceiling, which up to then had been considered routine. That fight led to a historic downgrade of United States treasury securities.”

“Speaker John Boehner is once again promising that any increase in the nation’s borrowing limit will have to be accompanied by a greater amount of spending cuts… The Ohio Republican’s position, which will be announced at the Peter G. Peterson Fiscal Summit Tuesday in D.C., seems to mirror his stance during last year’s all-consuming debt ceiling standoff.”